All Because of a Horse
by deadaccount100
Summary: On Eren and Jean's wedding night, Eren recalls how he first met Jean as a child
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div class="userstuff" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""When I was a child, my earliest memory of this dork, is him looking after me. We'd never even met before and yet there this kid was, my knight in shining armour." Eren smiles gently over at Jean, who flushes./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Oh god, not this story again!" Reiner groans. The crowd laughs, and a few sympathetic glances are sent his way. Only a few people actually know the story however, and most of the crowd leans in expectantly, wanting to hear what story Eren was about to share. Reiner gives Eren a double thumbs up and a wide grin, to show that he meant no ill will./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Well, it all started because of that asshole over there, disturbing my wedding speech. Shut up mate, and wait for your own wedding party!" Eren yells back, and Bertholdt flicks Reiner's shoulder, blushing profusely. An audible 'shut up!' is heard from Bertholdt, and everyone laughs again./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""It all started, because of my new toy I'd been bringing to school. We were in about year 2, and I'd just gotten a new stuffed horse for my birthday..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Hey Armin!" Eren chirped. "Wanna play cowboys?" He waved his new stuffed horse in the air, and Armin nodded excitedly. He had his own stuffed horse too, but no one in the playground had one as big as Eren. Reiner looked up from the sand pit, and scowled. Out of all of his friends, he was the only one who didn't have a toy horse. Annie had a white one, Armin had a spotted one, Bertholdt had a black one, and Eren had a brown one, which was a birthday present from his older sister Mikasa./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Hey Reiner, we can double ride mine if you want?" Bertholdt offered kindly, smiling at him as he offered a hand to lift him out of the sand pit./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""It's fine, I'll be the bad guy again." He scowled, kicking the dirt. Bertholdt shrugged, and wandered over to the others, telling them what Reiner had said./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""I'll be a bad guy too!" Yelled Hitch, with a sly grin on her face. "Reiner and I will be against you!" Reiner perked up and grinned broadly at her. Together the scurried over to one corner of the playground to whisper plans to take down the cowboys./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Come the end of break, the kids were all squealing and laughing loudly, running and yelling to each other. Annie and Bertholdt were quieter than the others, and were able to hide and try to ambush Hitch and Reiner. Eren decided to go rogue and try to steal Annie's horse and kidnap her, but Annie managed to instead steal his horse. The teacher called all the children inside and asked them to put their toys in the cupboard. Annie, still triumphantly carrying Eren's horse, packed it away for him./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"The rest of the class continued uneventfully, and all the children seemed cheerful. The last lesson of the day was art, and so Eren was asked to stay behind after class with another student he'd never spoken to, Jean. The other boy mostly kept to himself and only had one other friend, Marco. He frowned when they first were assigned to cleaning duties, and reluctantly answered Eren's questions. He slowly began to warm up to Eren, and towards the end he began to try to talk back./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""If I were a teenage mutant ninja turtle, I'd wear a black mask because that's what ninjas wear!" Eren argued./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""But if they all wore the same coloured mask no one could tell them apart!" Jean protested./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"They bickered in good humour as they finally finished washing the paint brushes in the bathroom. They showed the teacher the clean utensils and were dismissed. Eren opened up the cupboard, still chatting to Jean, and froze. The cupboard was empty./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Miss, did you put my horse somewhere else?" Eren asked, chin wobbling as his eyes began to well up with tears./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""I haven't touched the cupboard Eren, maybe you didn't put it in there?" Replied Miss Ral./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""N-no, Annie put it in there for me, I saw her." He clenched his fists, determinedly trying not to cry./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""How about you go home and I'll try to find it by tomorrow." Miss Ral suggested. "It can't have gone far! It'll turn up, don't worry." She smiled down at him, and shooed the two boys out./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jean gave Eren a look of concern. "Miss Ral can fix anything." He reassured. "Don't cry."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Eren scowled. "I'm NOT going to cry!" He stomped off towards his mum, who waved at Jean before turning to query what had Eren in such a huff. Jean turned towards his own mum, thinking about the missing horse. Miss Ral would find it, she always knew the answer he thought. She always did!/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Come the next morning at school, Miss Ral had to confess she had no idea where the horse was. "Maybe someone's playing a trick on you Eren? It'll turn up, don't fret." Eren glared at the floor, and refused to talk to anyone. At break, he sat by himself as the others played, or sat with their own friends. Miserably he tore up the grass around him, sullenly ignoring anyone who tried to talk to him. Jean offered for him to sit with Marco and him, but Eren wouldn't even acknowledge Jean. So Jean watched the others playing with their horses, and noticed Hitch and Reiner talking together, thick as thieves after just one day./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"After school Jean saw Reiner and Hitch laughing together, and went over to ask if they'd seen Eren's horse. He gasped as he saw what they were laughing over. "That's Eren's!" He yelled, grabbing the stuffed toy out of Hitch's bag. Reiner turned pale./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""We were just playing!" He protested. "We were gonna give it back!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""No we weren't." Scoffed Hitch. "Next time we're going to be part of the scouting legion! And Eren can be the bad guy for once!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"She snatched onto the other end of the plush and tugged. Jean growled and yanked back, the two of them pulling on each end, snapping at the other to let go. Reiner watched on with wide eyes, torn between helping either of them. He'd seen the effect it'd had on Eren and wanted to give it back, but Hitch had assured him they'd return it once they'd had a turn at being scouts. A loud rip rent the air, and all three children froze. Hitch dropped her end of the torn toy and ran, leaving a pile of stuffing and two shocked boys behind her. Reiner garbled an apology before racing after her. Jean crouched down and began to scoop all the stuffing and bits together into his bag, before leaving to find his mother./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"The next morning Eren came to school, Armin holding his hand as he sadly looked up at Miss Ral. She shook her head and apologised again, and tried to cheer him up. His shoulders slumped, and he quietly went to his seat. Jean looked down at the bag and fiddled with the band aids covering his hands. His mother had been furious when she caught his with the sewing kit but he refused to let her go anywhere near his project. After a bout of angry tears, he'd finally accepted her advice and let her guide him in his stitching. Several times he'd fumbled with the needle and scissors but all his hard work had paid off eventually. He was very proud of himself, and hoped it would cheer Eren up./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"The bell for break couldn't come fast enough. Jean bit his lip and, before he lost his courage, lurched to his feet. Clutching a bag tightly he scurried over to Eren./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Um, hi Eren." He mumbled. Eren glanced at him and looked away. "I found it and fixed it for you." Jean carefully placed the bag on Eren's desk. Eren's eyes widened as he opened the bag. Hurriedly, Jean explained about Reiner, Hitch and the argument. "But really it wasn't Reiner's fault he said he'd return it!"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Eren ran a finger slowly down one of the crooked and uneven rows of stitching. A wide grin stole across his face, and he threw himself at Jean./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Thank you thank you thank you!" Eren babbled. He placed a clumsy kiss against Jean's cheek and hugged him tightly./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""And that's when I knew that Jean would always be there for me. My hero." Eren finished to loud applause. Jean flushed even darker and smiled up at Eren, eyes full of love./p  
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